“Come in, come in GLOWS to Kootenay Youth! Do you copy?”

“Roger that loud and clear, over!”

“Initiate Operation Climate Control, over!”

“Copy that! Launch initiated! Over and out!”

The 2021 Kootenay Contraption Contest is BACK! This GLOWS (Growing and Learning Opportunities With STEAM) program challenges Kootenay youth from Kindergarten to Grade 8 to imagine the year is 2050 and design a contraption to improve their life. So, what’s the problem we’re asking youth to solve? They get to decide! As long as it’s relevant to Climate Change, Climatology or Climate Action, the sky’s the limit.

The 2021 Kootenay Contraption question describes a future where the climate in the Kootenays has warmed up significantly and the outcomes, climate scientists (here in 2021) predict we will see by 2050 if we don’t make some changes, are impacting our lives and environment.

Because GLOWS is a youth STEAM program (science, technology, engineering, art and math) and the Kootenay Contraption Contest encourages innovation and design thinking; students, educators and parents can explore climate change through many different lenses. They can even put on their “futurist’ thinking caps to imagine what kind of technology might be available in 2050 to help solve the problem they’ve chosen to solve.

To learn more and register, please visit www.kast.com/kcc

GLOWS would like to thank FortisBC for sponsoring the 2021 Kootenay Contraption Contest. 

We acknowledge the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Nous remercions le Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada (CRSNG) de son soutien.